The DHS Program User Forum: Water and Sanitation

Home » Topics » Water and Sanitation » Understanding DHS Data

Show: Today's Messages :: Show Polls :: Message Navigator

Understanding DHS Data [message #28705]

Tue, 27 February 2024 20:24

andrew49@stanford.edu is currently offline

andrew49@stanford.edu
Messages: 3
Registered: February 2024

Member

Hi all,

I'm currently looking at DHS surveys in Malawi. I've loaded up the data and all but am having some trouble understanding the content. For example, column v113, according to the DHS Recode Manual, corresponds to the type of source of drinking water. The values in that column for each respondent is 21, 43, 14, 97, and so on. I'm trying to understand the meaning of these numbers. The DHS Recode Manual says they're country-specific, but doesn't allude at all to where I can derive their meanings.

Thanks!

Report message to a moderator

Re: Understanding DHS Data [message #28706 is a reply to message #28705]

Tue, 27 February 2024 22:32

andrew49@stanford.edu
Messages: 3
Registered: February 2024

Member

also, what do

HV002: Household number is the number identifying the household within the cluster or sample point. In some cases, this variable may be the combination of dwelling number and household number within dwelling. In these cases, the dwelling number is included as country-specific variable.

HV004: Ultimate area unit is a number assigned to each sample point to identify the ultimate area units used in the collection of data. This variable is usually the same as the cluster number, but may be a sequentially numbered variable for samples with a more complicated structure.

mean? Do they refer to geographic regions?

Report message to a moderator

Re: Understanding DHS Data [message #28741 is a reply to message #28705]

Fri, 01 March 2024 08:58

Janet-DHS
Messages: 888
Registered: April 2022

Senior Member

Following is a response from DHS staff member, Tom Pullum:

v113 is a variable name, not a column. The variable has a label. I don't know which Malawi survey or which statistical package you are using, but in Stata you would enter "describe v113" to get the name of the value label. It is V113 in the 2015-16 survey. You can the list the value label with "label list V113". I will paste the label for the 2015-16 Malawi below. The first digit of the category label is a general type of source (for example, "1" for "piped" and "4" for "well" and the second digit is a sub-category. The categories vary from survey to survey, depending on the types that are prevalent for the date and country of the survey. The WHO classification into "improved" and "unimproved" has changed over time. There is a similar construction for v116, type of toilet facility. Hope this answers your question.

. label list V113

V113:

          10 piped water

          11 piped into dwelling

          12 piped to yard/plot

          13 piped to neighbor

          14 public tap/standpipe

          20 tube well water

          21 tube well or borehole

          30 dug well (open/protected)

          31 protected well

          32 unprotected well

          40 surface from spring

          41 protected spring

          42 unprotected spring

          43 river/dam/lake/ponds/stream/canal/irrigation channel

          51 rainwater

          61 tanker truck

          62 cart with small tank

          71 bottled water

          96 other

          97 not a dejure resident

Report message to a moderator

Previous Topic:	Need clarification on Kenya DHS 2022 Dataset
Next Topic:	Are the area clusters for one country the same across years?

Goto Forum:

-=] Back to Top [=-

[ Syndicate this forum (XML) ] [

] [

]

Current Time: Mon Nov 25 03:10:04 Coordinated Universal Time 2024